Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government will play a key role in delivering Project Gigabit procurements in Scotland. The Scottish Government will lead delivery of local (Type A) and regional (Type B) activity, providing opportunities for alternative network suppliers in Scotland. We will also work alongside the UK Government to manage the UK-wide (Type C) framework in Scotland.

This is a recognition of our strong track record of delivering large scale digital infrastructure programmes and will allow us to align Project Gigabit with our own Reaching 100% (R100) programme.

The first local procurement in Scotland is expected to launch imminently, covering the Borders and East Lothian areas. A regional procurement, in the Dundee, Aberdeenshire, Angus, and Moray Coast areas is expected to follow in the coming months.

The Scottish Government and Building Digital UK (BDUK) have worked together to prepare further procurements, and these will be launched if and when we are confident that there is the market interest needed for them to succeed. We are also preparing the ground for the UK-wide (Type C) framework to deliver across Scotland.

Unlike our R100 programme, there is no predetermined level of funding assigned to deliver connections in Scotland via Project Gigabit. Instead, funding is allocated to each individual procurement based on a model developed by the UK Government.

As we work jointly to deliver these procurements in Scotland, we will continue to urge the UK Government to match our ambition for Scotland’s digital infrastructure with a sufficient level of financial commitment to deliver in this wholly reserved area.